Rock bit cone



G. E. FAILING ROCK BIT GONE Jan.' l2, 1932.

Filed July 28, 1930 INVENTQR 66a/ @ffm/Wy BY Z V A? 07 2 f ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 12, 1932 UNITED STATES GEORGE E. FAILING, OF ENID, OKLAHOMA,

ASSIGNOR TO GARBER TOOL COMPANY, OF

GARBER, OKLAHOMA,A CORPORATION OF OKLAHOMA; E. A. REED TRUSTEE OF SAID CORPORATION, BANKRUPT ROCK BIT GONE Application led July 28,

My invention relates to rotary Well drilling bits and more particularly to cones used on devices of this character for drilling rock and other hard formations.

The principal objects of my invention are to provide a cone that will cut faster, and that will wear longer than the ordinary cones now available, thereby reducing the number of pulling operations necessary for replacing wol-1n cones during the process of drilling a wel In accomplishing these and other objects of my invention I have provided improved details of structure the preferred form of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. l is a view in elevation of the lower end of a bit body and of a set of cones embodying my invention mounted on the body in functional relation.

Fig. 2 is a central cross-section of the cone shown to the right in Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the cone.

Referring more in detail to the drawings:

l designates a bit body adapted to be supported in the usual manner on the lower end of la string of drill pipe and includes inner divergiug plane faces 2 and 3 forming a socket 4 for 4rotatably receiving a set of cooperating drilling cones 5 and 6.

The cone 5 includes a base portion 7 having a face 8 inclined outwardly from the base and provided with radial grooves 9 serving as Water courses for the drilling fluid.

The remainder -of the cone comprises a frusto conical portion 10 provided throughout its greater area with radial grooves l1 aligning with the courses 9 and intersected by a series of circumferential grooves 12, thereby defining circular rows of teeth 13.

The two rows of teeth nearest the apex of the cone preferably contain only one-half the number of teethformed in the remaining rows. This is in order to provide teeth sufficiently large and strong to withstand the strain of drilling in hard formations.

As particularly illustrated in Fig. 3, each tooth tapers to a cutting edge 14 lying in a radial plane relative to the aXis of the cone so that the teeth will cut the formation at 1930. Serial No. 471,220.

right angles to the direction of travel of the cones.

As is further clearly illustrated in this figure, the teeth are alternately formed short and long for a two-fold purpose, the first objective being to increase the striking blow delivered on the rock in the bottom of the well hole. This result is accomplished by the increased spacing of the long teeth which perform the major portion of the drilling action while the cone is comparatively new.

The other objective is to increase the life of the cone by providing the shorter teeth which will begin to cut after the long teeth become worn, thereby prolonging the usefulness of the bit.

The cone 6 is formed similarly to the cone 5 but is provided with an additional circular row of teeth; the circular rows being offset in relation to the complementary rows of the mating cone in order to obtain the usual meshing engagement of the cones.

Assuming a pair of drilling cones to be constructed as described and assembled in the angular socket of a bit body, the process of drilling would be as follows:

After the bit -has been lowered to the bottom of the hole and drilling fluid has been forced in the usual manner to the cones, pressure is applied to the drill pipe and the drill stem is rotated, thereby revolving the cones on the hard formation in the bottom of the hole as in ordinary practice.

The greater portion of the drilling action is performed by the longer teeth and due to the increased space betweeen these teeth over the cones commonly supplied having teeth of uniform len h, sharper blows are delivered to the rock ormation and faster cutting results.

Continued wear of the long teeth gradually transfers more of the' drilling load to the shorter teeth and while it will be apparent that the cone will ride to a great extent on the worn long teeth, experience has proven that because of the crevices and irregularities in the bottom of the hole, the shorter teeth will materially increase the efficiency and wear of the cone.

Attention is further called to the fact that even height.

it is desirable to provide the alternate short teeth between the long teeth in order to prevent the dislodgement of rock particles by the long teeth of greater size than could be carried olf in suspension by the drilling fluid.

What I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A cone yof the character described having teeth arranged in circular rows, each row comprising teeth regularly spaced but of unequal height.

2. A cone of the character described having teeth arranged in circular rows, the teeth of each row including a series of relatively high teeth and an alternating series of relatively low teet 3. A cone of the character described including circular rows of teeth having cutting edges in a radial plane with the axis of the cone, each row including a series of teeth of uniform height and an alternating series of teeth of uniformly lesser height.

4. A cone of the character described havp ing teeth arranged in circular rows, each row comprising regularly arranged teeth of un- 5. A rock bit cone comprising a frustoconical member and a plurality of teeth` ar-'1. ranged in parallel circular rows projectlngy from said cone, the adj acentteeth in each of said rows varying in height.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GEORGE E. FAILING.- 

